Ralph Nader: C’mon, let’s impeach Obama

posted at 4:41 pm on April 29, 2014 by Allahpundit

The reason Congress won’t do it, he says, “is because it’s abdicated its own responsibility under the Constitution.” When the man’s right, he’s right. And he’s also right, sad to say, in seizing on the war in Libya as an especially egregious example of Obama’s executive power grabs. Not only was that illegal according to O’s own lawyers, but Congress’s passivity may have emboldened Obama later to defy federal statutes on domestic subjects too, like ObamaCare. They wouldn’t sue him under the War Powers Act for fear that, if the courts sided with them, it’d not only spark a constitutional crisis but any ensuing brutality in Libya would be laid squarely on the GOP for having tied the military’s hands. They wouldn’t sue him over ObamaCare because the politics of winning would have been terrible for them — the employer mandate would have been enforced, canceled plans would have stayed canceled, deadlines would have been strictly policed, and Obama shamelessly would have blamed Republicans for all of it. Needless to say, if they’re afraid to sue, they’re certainly not about to impeach the first black president, even if arguably the most famous progressive in America is on their side. (Speaking of which, would Nader also support impeachment for O’s overreach on O-Care? Zeleny never asks him in the clip.)

What happens next year, though? Every now and then a YouTube video bubbles up of some angry conservative demanding of his/her rep at a town-hall meeting that Obama be impeached. And every time it does, the excuse given is the same: It’s pointless to try to impeach O as long as the Senate’s controlled by Democrats. They’ll vote to acquit him and that’ll be that. Given the way the midterms are shaping up, that excuse will no longer fly come January. What will the new excuse be? My bet is that they’ll claim there’s so little time left in his presidency that it doesn’t pay to spend the political capital needed to do it. Better to just wait him out, maybe file a lawsuit or two the next time he decides to unilaterally change the law on O-Care or invade a country, and hope for the best in 2016. Will that fly with grassroots righties? Click the image to watch; the impeachment comments come at around 2:50.

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I’ve always thought the only reason for Obama’s apparent safety as Chief Executive is that his glaring absence if something bad would befall him, would be filled by Joe Biden. Now, that’s a scarier thought than Obama as President, on any day.

What happens next year, though? Every now and then a YouTube video bubbles up of some angry conservative demanding of his/her rep at a town-hall meeting that Obama be impeached. And every time it does, the excuse given is the same: It’s pointless to try to impeach O as long as the Senate’s controlled by Democrats. They’ll vote to acquit him and that’ll be that. Given the way the midterms are shaping up, that excuse will no longer fly come January. What will the new excuse be?

Well, given that it takes 2/3 majority to convict, a simple majority won’t do the trick.

Any attempts to impeach Obama would cause a reaction that would be 10x bigger than the Rodney King police acquittal reaction (riots).

Would also be political suicide for the party that brought such an action…

America did a great thing in electing the first black man President but you’ve got a long way to go because what’s the point of electing the first black man if no one is allowed to criticize him for fear of being called a racist?

Any attempts to impeach Obama would cause a reaction that would be 10x bigger than the Rodney King police acquittal reaction (riots).

Would also be political suicide for the party that brought such an action…

America did a great thing in electing the first black man President but you’ve got a long way to go because what’s the point of electing the first black man if no one is allowed to criticize him for fear of being called a racist?

snoozinglion on April 29, 2014 at 5:06 PM

Just cut to the chase and say it. Removing the lazy stupid rat-eared wonder from office by impeachment would cause race riots that would make the 1968 riots look like a girl scout cookout.

Congress impeaches and much of this nation literally goes up in flames. And, unlike 1968 when it was hard to leave your own neighborhood, this time the suburbs are put on fire. The whiter the neighborhood the more likely to be torched.

It’s pointless to try to impeach O as long as the Senate’s controlled by Democrats. They’ll vote to acquit him and that’ll be that. Given the way the midterms are shaping up, that excuse will no longer fly come January. What will the new excuse be?
ALLAHPUNDIT on April 29, 2014 at 4:41 PM

Nope.

Article I Section III reads:

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

I don’t think Republicans will have that large of a majority in the Senate, so that excuse will still hold.

Oh, we can’t impeach! Oh no! It wouldn’t work anyway. Never! If it did work, there would be riots in the streets by the Obama sheeple! The MSM would call Republicans racists! Al Sharpton would call us racists! We must not impeach!

Congress impeaches and much of this nation literally goes up in flames. And, unlike 1968 when it was hard to leave your own neighborhood, this time the suburbs are put on fire. The whiter the neighborhood the more likely to be torched.

Happy Nomad on April 29, 2014 at 5:14 PM

OTOH – we’re the ones with most of the guns and ammo….

I have a t-shirt that says:
“The hardest part of the zombie apocalypse will be pretending I’m NOT excited.”

Impeachment is a no go, unless either (a) the Republicans wind up with 70 or more Senate seats, or (b) some Democratic Senators start calling for impeachment too. Here’s why:

1. It takes a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict on impeachment. All the Democrats would presumably vote to acquit, so Obama is not going to be removed from office. In fact, a few of the Republicans would probably vote to acquit too. (Can you imagine John McCain voting to impeach Obama?)

2. Clinton was also impeached and his conviction failed in the Senate. This would seem to create a trend in which the Republicans get a reputation that every time there is a Democratic president, the Republicans will try to impeach him because they can’t defeat him in an election. It would also suggest that if we ever have a Republican president again and a Democratic House of Representatives, they might as well try to impeach the Republican president.

I just don’t see any benefit to the GOP of trying to impeach Obama and not succeeding at removing him.

Doesn’t matter. It’s congress’ constitutional responsibility to impeach. It’s not a suggestion, it’s mandatory. It’s only question, has what he done a “high crime or misdemeanor”?

I think so.

Regardless of whether or not BC was removed from office, he is, and will forever be noted in history as an “impeached president”. We know the bootlicking dems of the senate would never remove him from office, but I don’t care. He deserves the word “impeached” to be forever tacked on to his presidency.

Gag me with a spoon. If he should, himself, like fall down a flight of stairs or stroke out, the next in line would be Speaker of the House. Lordy!

avagreen on April 29, 2014 at 5:23 PM

Two points. First the 1980s called they say you can keep the “gag me with a spoon” bit.

Secondly, if the President leaves office for whatever reason- next in line is the Veep. Speaker of the House comes third. Yep, should something happen to the rat-eared wonder Biden is our next line of defense.

Congress impeaches and much of this nation literally goes up in flames. And, unlike 1968 when it was hard to leave your own neighborhood, this time the suburbs are put on fire. The whiter the neighborhood the more likely to be torched.

Happy Nomad on April 29, 2014 at 5:14 PM

First of all, LET IT BURN.

Second, the arsonists better be bullet proof if they think they are gonna start fires in my neighborhood.

The GOP as it stands is a worthless pile of muck. There’s no way Boehner could ever successfully handle it.
Secondly the GOP would self destruct – if they think immigration is bad you know the press will soon the story throughout the east of this country’s (short) lifetime as the GOP wouldn’t leave the first black president alone.
Lastly Obama would not leave and we’d be in a constitutional crisis.

Impeachment, as we learned from Clinton’s, is a political tool… Not a legal one – without he people fully behind it it’s meaningless.

Perhaps the castrated RINO’s should get testosterone shots from the same sources that Dhimmikkkrat women such as Shrillary and Blabbermouth-Schultz use. November 2014 could be the Last Stand for the spineless, n u tless, gutless Republican party. If the RINO “leadership” can’t honor their oath to defend the Constitution, I suspect lots of Constitution-loving politically conservative people like myself will simply not waste our time going to the polls. If RINO’s want to drive a stake through the heart of the Republic, let ‘em.

Obama was elected and re-elected based solely on the color of his skin. That is the very definition of racism.

The fact that he has proven a malleable tool for the statists during his tenure is almost beside the point- his Presidency is a phenomena entirely due to white people determined to prove they were not racists by voting exclusively for race.

I don’t think its something to be proud of, unless you prefer checking off boxes (elected a black guy- check! elected a gay midget- check!) to living in a truly colorblind society.

Not only was that illegal according to O’s own lawyers, but Congress’s passivity may have emboldened Obama later to defy federal statutes on domestic subjects too, like ObamaCare. They wouldn’t sue him under the War Powers Act for fear that, if the courts sided with them, it’d not only spark a constitutional crisis but any ensuing brutality in Libya would be laid squarely on the GOP for having tied the military’s hands. They wouldn’t sue him over ObamaCare because the politics of winning would have been terrible for them — the employer mandate would have been enforced, canceled plans would have stayed canceled, deadlines would have been strictly policed, and Obama shamelessly would have blamed Republicans for all of it. Needless to say, if they’re afraid to sue, they’re certainly not about to impeach the first black president, even if arguably the most famous progressive in America is on their side. (Speaking of which, would Nader also support impeachment for O’s overreach on O-Care? Zeleny never asks him in the clip.)

Just cut to the chase and say it. Removing the lazy stupid rat-eared wonder from office by impeachment would cause race riots that would make the 1968 riots look like a girl scout cookout.

Congress impeaches and much of this nation literally goes up in flames. And, unlike 1968 when it was hard to leave your own neighborhood, this time the suburbs are put on fire. The whiter the neighborhood the more likely to be torched.

Two points. First the 1980s called they say you can keep the “gag me with a spoon” bit.

Secondly, if the President leaves office for whatever reason- next in line is the Veep. Speaker of the House comes third. Yep, should something happen to the rat-eared wonder Biden is our next line of defense.

Sleep well.

Happy Nomad on April 29, 2014 at 5:46 PM

Two points: First, the eighties were a fine time. Your complaint about them, Nomad? Other than being an overall grouch?

Secondly, perhaps you would do well to read the whole comment and find for yourself how superfluous your comments are.
Sleep well, yourself. You appear to be in need it.

Joe Biden.

Grinch on April 29, 2014 at 4:43 PM

Gag me with a spoon. If he should, himself, like fall down a flight of stairs or stroke out, the next in line would be Speaker of the House. Lordy!

The “Joe Biden” comeback is too quick and too easy. If Barack Obama was actually impeached and, further, removed from office, what exactly is it that Joe Biden is going to do that we consider apocalyptic?

I get that he’s a besotted fool on two legs but, considering the calculating Machiavelli now in the White House, who is delightfully carving up the Constitution, how is a besotted fool a greater threat to the nation?

Any attempts to impeach Obama would cause a reaction that would be 10x bigger than the Rodney King police acquittal reaction (riots).

Would also be political suicide for the party that brought such an action…

America did a great thing in electing the first black man President but you’ve got a long way to go because what’s the point of electing the first black man if no one is allowed to criticize him for fear of being called a racist?

snoozinglion on April 29, 2014 at 5:06 PM

Yep, it’s stunning what this jackass has been able to get away with simply because of his race.

This is what makes me think that the Democratics will find another black to fill the nomination over Herself. They have observed the black effect and rather like it.

Obama needs to go down in infamy, and even if impeachment proceedings failed, they could help expose some of this man’s ugliness and depravity.

VorDaj on April 29, 2014 at 5:00 PM

Didn’t seem to hurt We Are the President any back in the day…if anything, the Howard Stern-Hustler plurality which seems to make up the main part of the modern American electorate were wishing for even more.

If obama got impeached it just might help dems and thier americanhating agenda, in that they would make obama out to be a martyr to racism. And would play the race card for every election for the next 50 years.
(more than they do now)

It’s pointless to try to impeach O as long as the Senate’s controlled by Democrats. They’ll vote to acquit him and that’ll be that. Given the way the midterms are shaping up, that excuse will no longer fly come January. What will the new excuse be?

See, this is why Republicans need to pass amnesty. That way, they won’t have to worry about having the power to do anything.